A Broken Promise
by Lissy1379
Summary: "Lily Evans was "bloody terrified," and coming from her the fact that she'd used the word "bloody" was enough of an indication of that." A short, fluffy one-shot between James and Lily, with the unusual appearance of Remus.


**A Broken Promise**

Lily Evans was "bloody terrified," and coming from her the fact that she'd used the word "bloody" was enough of an indication of that. For Lily was hardly ever one to cuss, these words were ones reserved for her husband and his group of bandits –or best friends as he liked to call them- and the vile going-ons of the Death Eaters, and whatever malicious crime they had most recently committed.

So these words spoke enough of her fear as she spoke to Remus Lupin, the most respectable out of all of James' friends in her opinion. With his sandy hair, many scars and tattered, beaten-up clothes he wouldn't appear to be the friendliest of people. But Lily was never one to judge others on how they looked, if anyone did so with Remus they would probably have expected an idiot of a weedy guy who got himself into many pub brawls leaving him scarred and unlikeable, rather than the reserved character hat was highly intellectual which he actually was.

So when Lily Potter, nee Evans, did utter these words, it was with worry and concern for his friend that Remus asked her what was wrong.

"It's the world. The whole. Damn. World." Lily left her words there, along with a rather bemused Remus.

"What about the world Lily? Can you be more specific?"

"It's just everything." And with those words, Lily found herself curling into herself and sobbing for her life's worth. Remus' response was to place a tentative arm around Lily's shoulder, who then buried her face into his worn-out jumper, and started weeping uncontrollably.

"What is it exactly? Lily, I can't help if you don't tell me."

Remus' hand was rubbing comforting circles around Lily's back, but she was still sobbing. If anyone was feeling sorry for Lily at this point, perhaps they should turn their attention to Remus Lupin. He had no idea what was going on, and was expected to play the comforting role that James would ordinarily have been playing, had he not been on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix with his best friend Sirius Black.

Remus had had no experience of these emotional breakdowns, which James had experienced many a time before, and knew perfectly how to force Lily out of her ball of sorrow in these circumstances. Remus, however, did not.

But he did have a faint inkling of what could be upsetting her, "Lily, love?" He asked her tentatively. "Has this got anything to do with James not being here? He is-"

But this was as far as Remus got to go with his statement, for Lily then chose that moment to finally rush out the words of the terror she was feeling, "I'm just so scared Remus. He's away constantly, and I don't know what I would do without him; its fine for Sirius, he hasn't got any girlfriend who would be torn apart if he died. And put together, they think it's all a big joke. But people die every day because of this war, and they could be among them. And if James did die, I have no idea what I would do."

Remus was an amazing listener, but he was never one for awkward situations, the fact that James came through the door half a second later to see Lily's face buried in his chest, and his arms around her wasn't helpful.

Had this been half a year ago, James would've had a massive jealousy fit, but since the war had brought him and Lily closer together than ever, he just took in the situation with a sigh, and slipped onto the sofa, and pulled Lily over onto his lap instead.

"Not again, Lily," was what he murmured to her.

Lily looked upwards in shock, having been oblivious to him entering the room, before launching her lips upwards towards his. Normally this would've been a situation which James would've taken full advantage of, but his dear friend Moony was in the room and James had a feeling that he wouldn't appreciate their show of affection.

So it was after a second of their lips touching that he pulled away.

"Lily, as much as Moony needs lessons on how to pull, I do not think he would enjoy watching us make out. I know you are proud of our combined exceptional kissing abilities, but I have a feeling that Moony isn't particularly enjoying this."

Lily blushed scarlet at this, and did have the dignity to pull away, and mutter an apology to the nicknamed "Moony."

"It's fine," Moony attempted to reassure her. He didn't respond to James' digging, he was too mature for that.

"I think I need to be on my way out, you too seem to need a little..." He trailed off then, he was far too kind to want to wind up Lily, but all the same he knew that James still needed to be taken down a peg or too.

"Are you sure?" It was Lily speaking now; she would always be too polite to kick someone out of her house merely because she and her husband needed a little "alone time."

"Yeah."

"Shall I walk you to the door then?" It was James speaking this time, and Remus could tell that there was something he wished to speak to him about.

"Sure."

James walked Remus down the corridor, and it was only once they reached the front door that James spoke, "Was that the first time she broke down while I was gone?"

"Yeah," Remus felt awkward, he had never been an amazing person to talk about feelings with. "Well, I guess I'll see you around Prongs."

"You'd better, as much as I love Lily, I don't wanna be stuck around the house all day, while she reads goodness knows which new book."

"Nice to hear your love and appreciation for her."

"Just _you _wait, you'll know the feeling at some point, but that doesn't stop me loving her, she's my everything."

Remus saw the tell-tale Lily rant signs on James' face: the misty eyes, and look of total adoration. He then took this as his cue to leave. With a final, "See you Prongs." He left the building, and glanced around before disapparating with a small pop.

James then sighed, he was going to miss Remus; it was awkward being stuck in a flat with Lily. As beautiful and amazing as she was, his friends had always been a constant in his life, and living without them just seemed weird. Although he was pretty sure that Lily wouldn't approve of living them with his friends, the thought of _that _brought a small smile to his face, but it vanished as he came into the living room and saw Lily drying her puffed-up, red face.

"Lily-petal?" James' voice was anxious, he didn't know what was wrong, but nor did he want to upset her by saying something wrong. So he didn't speak, he merely sat down on their blue sofa and pulled her close to him.

Lily had been trying her upmost not to cry, she wanted things to be special for him when he arrived back home again, but her tears came flooding down in torrents for the second time that evening.

James had been on an Auror's mission for the past few weeks accompanied by Sirius, doing his best to try and track down the Death Eater's which had been causing havoc and destruction in the south of Sheffield. He'd been unable to contact Lily for fear of compromising their safety, but had promised to give a bit of a warning before he returned.

And no such warning had arrived, the mission was expected to take around a week, but the tally had landed as closer to a month, and for the whole time Lily had been frightened out of her wits. The fact that James had been unable to face saying goodbye the night before hadn't helped much. James was a coward; despite his Gryffindor bravery and promises, he'd refused to wake Lily up to see goodbye on the morning before. Instead he'd only left a coward's note, and reminders of his love.

So this was why Lily was sobbing into his chest, and the reason why, when she finally stopped crying, he was slapped around the face. His face was one of shock and horror, but no witty remark came from his mouth as he tried to recall what exactly it was that he had done wrong.

"James Potter. _Why _was it that I awoke on the day that you left with an empty bed and a carefully folded note beside me?" Lily Potter's voice got shrill as she progressed with the sentence, "_You, _were supposed to have said goodbye; a proper goodbye. But no, you left me sobbing for the day, and terrified that the night before would've been the last time I saw you."

James' face was a picture: it had started out utterly bewildered, but then changed to shock as realisation dawned upon it, and then finally fear and sorrow from what he had done.

He expected words of anger, but Lily's voice had gone down to a whisper, "James, I was _terrified, _if that was the last thing we had ever said, I would have died with you..."

James knew that it was now his time to take over, "But I wasn't Lily, every time I'm faced with this decision, it tears me up too. But I. Don't. Care... Well obviously I care, but if I died for the Order of the Phoenix, I would be proud. I would've done my bit against Voldemort, and no-one could say that I hadn't. I've had a beautiful life, albeit a short one, and in war sacrifices have to be made. And I would willingly make my sacrifice over, and over, and over again."

Lily's voice was a sob, as she brought out her reply, "But what about us? Do I- Do I not mean anything to you? Why marry me if all you're going to do is go off and commit suicide as a soldier in a war?"

"Of course I care about you, I love you; how could I not?"

"Then don't go."

This was the ever-going fight that went on and on, neither party relented: Lily wanted James to abandon all hopes of being the talked-about hero that died in all glory, while James wanted Lily to understand the sacrifices he was willing to make. They had this argument daily, and it was round and round in circles that it always went.

They both had their silent battles too, half understanding the others' logic, but still refusing to budge from their side. But James had had enough, he didn't want to argue, but refused to agree, and it was finally his time to voice that.

"Lily," his voice was as soft as it could be, rising from the argument which they were making, and bringing a new statement to the argument. "I only have the one night. The Death Eater's have done a bit of a slip, and we want them to think that we've fully given up and lost them. I came here to apologise; I didn't want to face harsh words again before I left. And I also wanted to spend the night with you, I know you hate me and are irritated at the moment. But please, I don't want to fight tonight."

These were his fearful words, and Lily could tell it. The way he said them in almost a monotone meant that he was angry too. If he didn't get his way, he would most likely storm off and sleep at Remus, Sirius or Peter's, so she nodded. She would let him have his night on one condition, "But only if you say goodbye to me tomorrow."

He had a silent nod in return, as Lily slowly moved her face up to his, to share a gentle but bitter-sweet kiss, before making her way into the kitchen to prepare the dinner, while James delved into the drawers to get out the cutlery to set the table. Afterwards, he reluctantly took his stinking clothes out of his travelling bag, and placed them within the Muggle washing machine.

They settled down for a heavy-hearted tea, during which they talked about anything and everything except the fact that James would be disappearing into the sunrise the next day, or at least that was what they thought.

**Soooo? What did you all think? This is something which I wrote, and was intended to be a one-shot, but I got really into it, and ended up leaving a hook here. I don't actually know whether or not this is going to be continued, thoughts on that anyone?**

**And, I actually wrote this ages ago, and e-mailed it to my friend Hannah to edit. Except she didn't, because I think she didn't get chance. So I'm uploading this now, and hoping that it's alright without having been edited. **

**Whether you enjoyed it or not, please leave a review to let me know your thoughts :)**


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